The NEW Ward’s Take

I’ve been through many phases on this blog. First it was a spot for game reviews and analysis, then a brief (and I mean very brief) stint featuring pro wrestling podcasts, then random posts about whatever was on my mind, and then finally the also very brief era of Ward’s Take.

I had to do some serious thinking as to what I wanted to do and why my previous attempts have failed. I want to maintain this blog and I love to write, those two are a given. So why has my motivation or patience run so slim? Why do I even want a blog?

The answer to the first question is simple. I know that running a successful blog will take time. I know that, in order to get readers, I’ll have to go through the dog days of not many viewers. While I’ve never expected “overnight success”, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope for it.

Those days are gone. There are no more excuses. I’ve finally come to grips with the fact that my readership won’t be huge right off the bat. It may take weeks, may take months, hell it might even take years, but I want to at least give it a shot. As an avid gym rat, I know that results take a lot of time, and blogging is no different.

But why do I want to blog? It’s simple, to prepare myself for the future while simultaneously doing something I love to do. I’ve always enjoyed writing but never considered doing it as a career. I wanted to be on TV, I wanted to be on the radio, I wanted people to know who I was.

That’s until I had experience with all three elements. I’ve worked at a radio station since August of 2014, I had my first experience with a TV broadcasting class this summer, and my love for writing still couldn’t escape my mind. That’s why I made a sudden turn, dropped my fall broadcasting class, and enrolled in the newspaper reporting class.

Blogging will help me in more ways than one. First and foremost, it will keep me writing. I think it’s a pretty simple concept that you will be a better writer the more you write. Second, it gives my work some exposure, something that anyone can see and read by a simple URL search.

So that brings us to this new idea. I’m excited for this new idea because it’s something I think I can stay consistent with and an idea that I’m more motivated than I’ve ever been to pursue. It’s more niche based and it will allow me to put more thought and time into everything I post.

The problem with all my previous endeavors is that I wanted to be timely. How meaningful are game reviews when there have been two other games since then? Who cares what you thought about Monday Night Raw when it’s Friday? Who reads a daily blog to read about news that dropped three days ago?

Don’t be fooled, these will be timely, but each topic will only be covered once a week. I still have the goal of blogging every day of the week, but each day will have a certain theme, so to speak. I know my sports fandom is mixed and that carries being involved with diverse fan bases.

A lot of Cowboys fans aren’t Cardinals fans and vice versa. You’re less likely to read a piece if only part of it is something you’re interested in. These daily themes will eliminate that and it will also give readers a consistent day they can look for content on a certain subject.

With all that said, the daily topics will be as follows…

WWE Sunday

My love for pro wrestling, WWE specifically, is well documented. I wanted to make this a broader pro wrestling section, but I can’t guarantee I can consume all things pro wrestling every single week. I can at least promise I will consume all of WWE’s product, no matter how bad it may suck right now. Rather than show reviews, these posts will focus on the main feuds currently going on in the company and PPV predictions on applicable Sunday’s.

Motivational Monday

This is something a little different but something I hope people can benefit from. This won’t be your sappy, smile-inducing kind of post. Sometimes it’s good to call a spade a spade and admit that life sucks on occasion. But the goal of these posts is to hopefully motivate you through those times and give you a word that influences you to push on through. Hell, I might even motivate myself when I write them.

Cowboys Tuesday

This one is a pretty simple one. By this point, during the season obviously, the previous week will be fully concluded and the new week will be just underway. It will provide a good time to recap the previous game no matter when it was played and preview the upcoming game and what the team will need to focus on to get better.

Mizzou Wednesday

Since I’m going mostly the pro sports route, this makes the most sense to include the Blues. Here’s the reality, I’m a Blues fan, but my knowledge on the game of hockey is way too dim to provide quality analysis. Mizzou, on the other hand, provides plenty of opportunity. The football team has a ton of talent and the basketball team is still going to be sneaky good so it should be fun to write about, we’ll just have to see. This will also be the first topic covered in the new era, first piece dropping tomorrow!

Thunder Thursday

This day honestly makes the most sense to slot the Cardinals but how could I resist “Thunder Thursday”? There’s really not a valid or reasonable explanation as to why Thursday would be a good day to talk about the Thunder, the name was just too good to pass up.

Fredbird Friday

Since I moved them out of the ideal slot for the benefit of a cool name, I had to give the Cardinals post a cool name too. This is still a good slot to put them. The weekend series will either be starting that day or just underway. With the current state of the team, these posts have the highest risk of me breaking a keyboard.

Movie Review Saturday

Finally, fully aside from sports, I’ll dedicate Saturday’s to movie reviews. Kaytlyn and I typically go to the movie theater every Thursday but this will provide me an extra day in case I ever have to work on a Thursday. The goal is to make the majority of these over movies just released, but if nothing intriguing is in theaters it will likely be an older movie I get from Redbox.

So that’s it. I hope that at least one of these topics intrigues you and encourages you to stop by the blog at least once a week. If you’re still reading this, you’re a saint, but thank you. 1,179 words in this post at the end of that sentence. I should probably take it easy.

If you haven’t noticed, the site also has a new look and an official domain name now. I know, I’m big time. wardstake.com will be the new go-to site for all these posts. The design is also much less atrocious. It’s not outstanding, but it’s much better than the old design that looked like puke on a screen.